stock options

Cultural  

1. The right to purchase a company's shares at a future date at an agreed price. Companies often give stock options to their executives as an incentive to improve the company's performance and boost its share price. If the share price has risen above the agreed price of the option by the time the option is exercised, the executive stands to make a considerable profit.

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Example Sentences

Even at Robinhood, one of the least scrupulous brokerages, someone who wants to trade stock options needs to go through at least a nominal approval process.

From Slate • Apr. 28, 2026

Most stock options have implied volatilities below 50% and the options on the S&P 500 have a volatility under 20%.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

He was nearly wiped out but got back on his financial footing when a venture capitalist asked him in 1986 to be chairman of the board, with stock options, of a new company called Magellan.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026

“As with all stock options, there is only value if the share price meaningfully exceeds the exercise price, and in this case, it must be on an exceedingly aggressive 5-year timeline.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026

From barter to the trading of commodities futures and stock options, from money to the cashless society, markets constitute frameworks for higher transaction efficiency, often equated with profit.

From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai